## Facts

- Ross William Ulbricht was prosecuted as the creator and operator of “Silk Road,” an online marketplace on the Tor network used primarily for illegal goods and services, especially narcotics.
- The marketplace facilitated sales of drugs, fraudulent identification documents, and hacking-related tools, and used Bitcoin for payments.
- Silk Road included infrastructure supporting commerce and administration, including messaging, forums, a wiki, and dispute support tools.
- Investigators obtained pen register/trap-and-trace orders to collect non-content IP address routing information related to servers communicating with Silk Road’s infrastructure.
- In October 2013, agents arrested Ulbricht in a public library while he was logged into an administrator account on an open, unlocked laptop; agents seized the laptop and accessed information tying him to Silk Road operations.
- Authorities later obtained warrants to search the laptop and to obtain evidence from associated Google and Facebook accounts.
- A jury in the Southern District of New York convicted Ulbricht on seven counts related to operating Silk Road, including narcotics conspiracy and other offenses linked to the marketplace’s operation.
- The district court sentenced Ulbricht to life imprisonment.

## Issues

1. Whether collecting IP address routing information using pen register/trap-and-trace orders, without accessing content, violated the Fourth Amendment.
2. Whether the laptop, Google, and Facebook warrants were invalid for lack of probable cause, particularity, or for overbreadth, requiring suppression.
3. Whether evidentiary rulings and limits on cross-examination—particularly regarding alternative-perpetrator theories and alleged law-enforcement misconduct—denied Ulbricht a fair trial or required a new trial.
4. Whether the life sentence was procedurally or substantively unreasonable.

## Decision

- The Second Circuit affirmed the judgment of conviction and the life sentence in all respects.
- The court held that collecting non-content IP address routing information via pen/trap orders did not violate the Fourth Amendment.
- The court upheld the laptop and online-account warrants as consistent with Fourth Amendment requirements, rejecting claims of overbreadth and insufficient particularity.
- The court found no reversible trial error and affirmed denial of a new trial motion.
- The court held the life sentence was neither procedurally unreasonable nor substantively unreasonable.

## Legal Principles

- Collection of IP address routing information devoid of communications content is treated like pen register dialing information; absent access to content, no warrant is required where there is no reasonable expectation of privacy in the routing data.
- Digital search warrants may be broad yet valid when the scope is supported by probable cause and constrained by the investigation’s crimes and relevant timeframes; particularity is assessed in context of how devices/accounts are used in the alleged enterprise.
- Trial courts have discretion to exclude marginally relevant or confusing evidence, including alternative-perpetrator theories and misconduct evidence, and evidentiary limits warrant reversal only if they result in prejudicial error affecting the verdict.
- Appellate review of sentencing requires affirmance where the district court correctly applies the Guidelines, considers § 3553(a) factors, and imposes a sentence within the range of permissible decisions.

## Conclusion

The Second Circuit affirmed Ulbricht’s Silk Road convictions and life sentence, holding that pen/trap collection of non-content IP routing data did not require a warrant, the challenged digital warrants satisfied Fourth Amendment standards, the trial rulings did not deny a fair trial, and the sentence was reasonable.


United States v. Ulbricht, 858 F.3d 71 (2d Cir. 2017)